Resident Evil 7 is coming to Nintendo Switch—but there’s a catch

Resident Evil 7 developer Capcom has announced that the popular reboot of the classic franchise is coming to the Nintendo Switch—but with a catch: The game will only be available in Japan.

With a regular download size of 20GB (modest for larger consoles like the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One), the Switch would have a bit of trouble containing the game alongside more than a couple other downloads, so Resident Evil 7 will be available via a subscription-based streaming service.

The Cloud version of the game runs off a smaller app and is streamed from an online server, similarly to the PlayStation Now service, which allows users to stream older games from an online library.

The Cloud version of Resident Evil 7 comes with the full game, all currently available downloadable content, and different modes of play. Users can play the first 15 minutes of the game for free. When time is up, users can pay about 2,000 yen (roughly $18) for 180 days of access.

Capcom hasn’t announced any plans to release Resident Evil 7 on Switch in any other regions. Daily Dot contributor Miguel Concepcion called Resident Evil 7 the “close-quarters fright fest that suspense junkies crave,” echoing the generally positive reception elsewhere, so it would seem that the only thing stopping Capcom from transferring the horror game over to the Switch is a matter of logistics.

For those who can access the game, it probably won’t excel at stirring up the horror while you’re riding the bus to work, but the game’s tense action sequences should still be a blast. It’s not overly great that it’s only available through a streaming service, meaning you’ll never truly own the game, but Resident Evil fans have had to make do with what Capcom feels like giving them for years now. What’s one more compromise?

Joseph Knoop is a gaming writer for Daily Dot, a native Chicagoan, and a slave to all things Overwatch. He co-founded the college geek culture outlet ByteBSU, then interned at Game Informer, and now writes for a bunch websites his parents have never heard of.